'I did it to kill people': 11-year old Louisville girl crashes truck into home

A Louisville family is shaken up but unharmed after a truck slammed into the front of their house on New Cut Road near West Indian Trail last week.

The driver, an 11-year-old girl whose family said has autism, reportedly said she did it on purpose.

“It sounded like a bomb went off,” said Joshua Pate, whose home was damaged. “Everybody was in shock. Everybody’s still in shock.”

Pate had just gotten home from work around 2:30 p.m. Friday when the crashed happen. Five children were sitting in the living room at the time of the crash.

He believes the couch saved their lives.

“The loveseat slid around and made kind of like a barrier ... the back of it is kind of high and I think the kids just slid with the loveseat,” Pate said.

The girl who was driving was not injured, but Pate heard her talking with police after they arrived on scene.

“(The officer) couldn’t believe what she said. He was like ‘excuse me?’ And she said, ‘I wanted to kill people.’ And he said ‘I’m sorry, what did you say?’ And she said, ‘I wanted to kill people,” Pate said.

Seconds before, Kristina Bryan was driving north on New Cut Road when the truck slammed into her vehicle. Bryan’s car hit so hard it spun several times, creating cuts in the pavement. Her vehicle was totaled.

“Where was the parents when this little girl even got into the car?" asked Bryan, who has minor scrapes and bruises. "How did this little girl even get access to the keys?”

Pate has the same question. His family is renting the home and the Red Cross stepped in to help, but the family will be displaced for at least a month until the home is repaired.

The girl's grandmother said she thinks the girl was influenced by an animated TV show where a character steals the keys to a car. They had been hiding the keys for some time because the girl had tried to grab the keys off the counter before.

Pate said he forgives the girl, but what he really wants he hasn’t gotten.

“All we want is an apology from the family, pretty much," he said. "We haven’t heard from them and haven’t heard from anybody."

Both Pate and Bryan said they plan to take legal action against the girl’s family.

LMPD is still investigating this case, but a spokesperson doubts that charges will be filed.